there was a statement saying he should have stuck to his 250. and just a cursory look at twitter, many people are similarly upset. john boehner, this is a tough spot for john boehner. the house and a lot of people have said that his speakership could be threatened by this. so far, we see no sign of that. but, you know, he's in a position now where he is going to have to allow this -- probably going to have to allow this bill to hit the floor and the house and not going to get a majority of republican support. that is something that no speaker of the house of representatives, whether republican or democrat, does with any kind of frequency at all. it's considered almost a heresy. so, you know, everybody sort of recognizes the box that john boehner is in, but it's not going to really do him any good in terms of support among conservatives. there are some winners and losers here. but this fight is not over, maura.

that's the bottom line. >> you mentioned vice president biden swooping in at the last minute like superman and being able to secure this deal and that's certainly the perception a lot of people had. we heard mitch mcconnell speaking on the floor and he said this shouldn't have taken this long. certainly, there have been discussions about this for months. so in terms of the political drama that was playing out behind the scenes, how did this happen this waif? all of the sudden, at the 11th hour, well passed the 11th hour, we're voting at two in the morning on this measure. >> well, just as the way things happen in congress. nobody does anything until their back is completely against the wall. and i've got to say, maura, it's not all said and done for all the reasons we've outlined. the house of representatives still has to act. there could yet be some hiccups if not major explosions along the way here. but, you know, i mean, in order for people to come together, they've really got to have their backs up against the wall. and if you can say one thing,

one remarkable thing about what's happening here on the senate floor this evening, and that is there is an overwhelming vote, and, you know, a lot of people thought we would never see this, to vote for tax hikes to repeal -- even the wealthiest and those making over $400,000 a year. republicans are upset that the revenues that they -- i'm sorry, the spending cuts that they have insisted on all along, some of the reforms to medicare, social security, reductions in spending there, have had to go by the board. some democrats are angry that the debt ceiling has not been -- this fight over the debt ceiling that's not going to take place until two months has not been taken out of the equation. it is a remarkable site. nonetheless, with the caveat it may not be over yet. >> we've heard that he reached

out to harry reid and nancy pelosi and he spoke with them about everything that was going to take place tonight. what else do we know with how he responded to what's happening? >> well, it's interesting. the president chose today to have one of those campaign-style events with ordinary americans in the white house and an auditorium in the white house compound today. the president sort of came out in a jovial, joking matter. he painted a picture of a deal that was all but done, but he got in a lot of jabs, subtle and otherwise, at republicans and really angered folks. john mccain said he didn't know whether he was sad or angered by what the president had said. cooler heads have obviously prevailed here. and we do know that the president had been on the phone working this, even though joe biden was sort of the front man, flying point, if you will. and negotiations with mitch mcconnell. so, sure, the president has been

very involved. he, you know, he has led this campaign style effort to try to force republicans' hand. again, many of those folks are a little bit disappointed that that threshold was allowed to rise in these negotiations. but he did back republicans into a corner here to an extent that they're voting now on a tax hike that many thought they would never vote in favor of. >> i hate to look at the next fight before we conclude the one that we're in now, but since you mentioned the debt ceiling earlier and what we're facing in the next couple of months, what are we looking ahead to? what's the next struggle that we're going to see here? >> folks are familiar with the debt ceiling. the debt in this country is $16 trillion and growing.

we hit that debt limb. the treasure secretary says they can move some things around and buy us a couple of more months which happens to be the same time that congress is going to have to once again decide how they're going to defer these a draconian spending cuts that was decided the last time we voted on the debt ceiling. so all of this time is going to come together and you add one more thing to it and that is the appropriations bill, the spending bill. it expires in march. so you have these three things happening in march. it's just going to lead to another grand bargain, drama-style negotiation and whether or not they come with if comprehensive bill to reform some of the entitlement programs, to reduce government

spending, to simplify the tax code, all of the things we heard them talk about our political leaders in washington over the last year and a half. that will be the next chance they have to do that to come together, if you will. to either fight or come together in the grand bargain style agreement. but joe biden tonight, telling democrats behind closed doors when he met with them here on capital hill, he expects a donnie brook when he expects those things to pass. >> we will keep an eye on everything that's happening with this and on the debt ceiling. thanks for coming on the phone late with me on new year's eve. i hope you had a good one. again, to repeat the breaking news here, the senate has voted to approve a bipartisan compromise on the fiscal cliff. we'll have more on that tomorrow. now, back to "hardball" previously in progress. >> wealthiest americans including to a george washington university poll.

60% say yes, they should. on the question of immigration, the country is not as divided as people may think. ron, on all of these fronts, people seem to be taking a tolerant view of people in trouble and not a particularly happy view of people with money that they feel have gotten off scot-free. i think that's a generalization. >> well, indeed. it's actually one percent that doesn't represent the majority of the country. if you ask 99 mnt of the peop% they're not going to say yeah, i really hate that. i really feel sorry for those very rich people. who are going to have to pay a little bit more out of their pocket. but the fight goes on politically in washington, of course, in terms of taxes and budget and everything else. the assault on the welfare state

continues. the right wing may give up on gay marriage and things like that, but they're not going to give up on tearing medicare and social security apart and privatizing them. >> i think there's a lot of americans who would like to get rid of all of the welfare programs we have. >> and the whole notion that comes from the right of big government, and there are times when you have a president, like obama, who makes the argument that we need government to come together and invest in innovation, and health care and the public accepts that. that's a fight. >> anyway, on afghanistan, an issue close to my heart, the american public is sick of it.

ron, the question is 11 years and there's still 35% of the country that wants to stabilize afghanistan. i think the british and soviets are still trying to do that. it's not going to get done. >> no, it's not. but it is remarkable that the country has become, i would think, decidedly less pro-war than it was a decade or so ago. we have these grinding wars that have done really nothing for the safety of the country. and were illegitimate to begin with. so the country is really sick of war. we're war-weary. we don't want to be sending young people off to some central asian hot spot anymore to just spend a decade there, what? building a nation in afghanistan? is that really what we're going to?

>> if you want to talk about the good news of the past year, you had romney really embracing the neo-con view. you had john mccain at the republican convention talk about six, seven, eight wars that were ready to roll off the shelves if romney got elected. they are war-weary. i think they're skeptical about wars. i think they looked at that and they didn't fall for it. this election was not decided on foreign policy, but romney tried real hard to say barack obama was weak and didn't know anything about national security and the american public didn't fall for that neo-con bait. >> the only way to get his kid in uniform is to photo shop. he wasn't exactly mr. military, anyway. thank you, david corn and happy new year. coming up, the best of campaign 1, think of this as a football

highlight show after the big game. 47%. the first debate, we'll go over all the hits and misses with some very smart observers. and we have the annual list of the most notable quotes of the year. the list is full of bloopers like legitimate rape and etch-a-sketch. here's one from rush, democrats manipulated the weather forecast in tampa so that the republicans would cancel the first day of their convention. and that's not the nuttiest. let me finish on whether we thought this was a good year for america. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

it's time for the "hardball" campaign 2012: the now infamous

call to donors. we had 20 republican debates. it was absolutely nuts. and then the tone was set early. the august 2011 debate when they were assembled on stage, showed their intransigence on taxes. let's listen. >> say you had a deal. 10-1, as byron said. speaker, you're already shaking your head. but who, on this stage, would walk away from that deal? when you raise your hand if you just feel so strongly about not raising taxes, you'd walk away on the 10 to 1 deal. >> joining ne right now to review that list of greatness, former rnc chairman michael steele who never had a year like this.

seriously, both msnbc contributors. that was a scene where you come from the roots of the republican party, sir. was that a good day or a bad day? >> i think it was a bad day and it's very interesting that later on, huntsman said, you know, i probably should have raised my hand and said i would have taken the 10 to 1 deal. i think he recognized after the fact that that was a definitive moment where he could have carved out a new space on that page and probably run the campaign free of that baggage. >> jou know the politics, you never get blamed for it. or else vote for the bill when it fails.

>> he began to lock himself into a position of rover norquisting himself for the whole election. >> it's today's politics. it's like they used to say they have to be the most segregation in the south. you can never be an inch away for it. >> i guess you can say that whatever an early primary season crowd claps for furiously is going to kill you in october 15th in ohio. that's exactly what happened. >> it's these moments that you bring up in me. iowa is another unique state out there in the caucuses. mitt romney was in a mission to annihilate all the ads. just bomb the hell out of the city. newt gingrich was the biggest threat. they destroyed him. here's a romney-supporting ad

destroying newt. >> know what makes barack obama happy? newt gingrich's backage. $1.6 million. gingrich not only teamed up with nancy pelosi on global warming, but together, they co-sponsored a bill that gave $60 million a year to china's brutal one-child policy. >> i don't think they work in presidential elections in october. but those ads out there -- tell me? >> primaries, they are deadly. particularly in republican primaries. that is particular for newt gingrich was devastating. it hit -- it was the kitchen sink. it threw it all in there. >> what did it say in there that you didn't like? >> it said he's an insider, he's a washington pal.

and, look, he even pals around with nancy pelosi. didn't we just fire her? >> didn't you see those loving looks? >> you know, real quick on that. the interesting thing, if i were to pivot off of that caption of him and nancy together because that's what the people are looking for. that partnership working, getting things done. >> but they were talking about global warming. >> the other thing about that ad, that was symbolic of the entire mitt romney campaign strategy in the primaries. which was a take-no-prisoners attack policy. it just showed that mitt romney had tons of money and some very clever consultants who could carve up anybody in his path. that left him with a lot of making up to do once he secured the nomination. the way he got the nomination is typified by that ad showed weakness in this camp. >> let's go back to the

strategy, which it was. somebody is going to be the republican nominee and that person is going to be obama. therefore, all you have to be is there. >> and as he just noted and as neil sodacca made famous, making up is hard to do. the reality came for mitt romney, once he secured that nomination in early spring, it just wasn't there. >> throughout the republican primary, mitt romney pushed himself so far to the right. it was nearly impossible. and, by the way, i don't think he even tried one. it became a defining line on the hard right for romney. let's listen. >> governor romney, there's one thing i'm confused about. you say you don't want to go and round up people and deport them. but you say they would have to go back to their own country and apply for citizenship. so how do you send them home. >> the answer is self deportation.

people decide that they can do better by going home. so we're not going to round people up. >> so what was wrong with that? >> first of all, the phrase, self deportation managed to summarize everything that people didn't like about mitt romney. >> you know, like firing you. >> the firing part of it in the sort of cold, technocratic part of it. these are just numbers on a spread sheet. i think the combination of the two, the cold hardedness and the cold-bloodedness just played into everybody's view. >> it's just not realistic. your grand pop is going to wake up tomorrow saying mitt romney said i should self deport. i'm getting out of here. >> this was funny.

i hope it didn't ruin the guy's life because it was so funny. many thought he'd win this thing until some lackluster debate gave primary voters second thoughts. and then came this moment, november 9th, big debate. let's watch. >> i will tell you, it's three agencies of government when i get there that are gone. and what's the third one there? let's see. oh, five, okay. so commerce, education and t the -- >> epa? >> epa. there you go. >> siersly? is epa the one you were talking about? >> no, sir. no, sir. we were talking about the agencies of government -- the

epa needs to berebuilt. no doubt about that. >> but you can't name the third one? >> the third division of government -- >> commerce? >> commerce. and let's see. i can't, the third one, i can't. sorry. >> he must have got a whole lot of help from his pals here. that's why they came out. you can't bring notes with you? they start scribbling the notes when they get out there. howard, i've never heard oops before in the national debate. >> up next, the most outrageous conspiracy theories. this is "hardball," the place for poll sicks. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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back to "hardball." the final weeks of president

obama's first term are upon us. it's hard to remember the many bizarre conspiracy theories pushed about the president the last four years. let's look back at some of the worst first. president obama's 2010 trip to india. others on the right were up in arms over rue nors about what the trip would cost. >> i think we know that just within a day or so, the president of the united states will be taking a trip over to india that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. we have never seen a trip at this level before at this level of excess. and i think it's not a good signal to send to the american people when the american people are, quite frankly, struggling right now with high job losses. >> $200 million a day would have surpassed the daily cost of the war in afghanistan at the time. it was started by an unnamed source on an indian news web site.

we can't talk about conspiracy theories without bringing up rush limbaugh. this past august was cancelled due to hurricane isaac. >> you've got a hurricane coming. the national hurricane center, which is a government agency, very hopeful that the hurricane gets near tampa. the national hurricane center is obama. it's a national weather service, part of the commerce department. it's obama. i can see obama sending fema in advance of the hurricane hitting tampa. so that the republican convention is nothing but a bunch of tents in tampa. a bunch of rvs and stuff. make it look like a disaster area before the hurricane even gets there. >> did you ever think rush

limbaugh would warn us of a skewed weather report? float the idea of a tax increase in his state. well, it's about the need to beef up the military personnel in case civil war breaks out in case president obama got elected. here's jung herks edd on that one. >> i'm thinking worst-case scenario. civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war, maybe. we're not talking just a few riots here and demonstrations. we're talking lexington, concord, take-up-arms and get rid of the guy. the sheriff, i said are you going to back me? he said yeah, i'll back you. >> that was his idea of the worst-case-scenario. here's iowa u.s. congressman steve king with how president

obama's mother managed to convince us all that her son was born in hawaii, not in kenya. >> i looked into that before he was sworn into the presidency. we look sbood the library of congress and we found the microfiche of two newspapers, only two newspapers in hawaii. each of them had published the birth of barack obama. that doesn't mean that there aren't some other explanations on how they might have announced that telegram from kenya. the list goes on. i guess she considered herself naming her son might be a minor setback for her son's future run for presidency. up next, mitt romney's 47% video to obama's debate disaster in november. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

welcome back to "hardball." first up, the video that turned out to be the low-point for the romney campaign. the candidates taped comments to donors down in florida that nearly half the americans are lazy and happy to be on the government doll. it's simply known as the 47% video. let's listen again. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. the there are 47% of the people who are with him who believe that they're entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. so my job is not to worry about those -- i'll say they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. >> never trust the caterers.

let's take a look at the 47%. it seems to be one of the things, if you're right about this election, it's the numbers. first of all, they occupy people, 1%, all of the second-degreen, 1% became the thing to talk about. and then the 47% being anybody who's on any kind of benefit program, whether it's disability or retirement or military or pension. everything was painted as bad. where did he get that number. >> look, this election was all about the numbers. 23 million unemployed, one in six on welfare. it was that 47% number that trumped them all at the end of the day. people galvanized them because it was me. it really drew out that disconnect between the romney campaign and everyone else. >> do you really think it's his brand of ideology?

that there's a few people out there pulling the load for everybody else? >> i disagree. i think it's his philosophy and i think it showed in that tape. >> how do you think it's his philosophy? you can't say it's his philosophy because he never told us what that was. >> i think he said some nice things about it. >> when you spoke at the democratic national convention, former president bill clinton brought the house down. this was one of the greatest speeches ever, i think. let's listen to big bill at his best. >> are we better off than we were when he took office? listen to this. when president barack obama took

office, the economy was in free fall, it had just shrunk to 9% gdp. we were losing 750,000 jobs are month. are we doing better than that today? the answer is yes. >> the whole dynamism. >> earlier this year, i wrote oh, who needs conventions. what are they for, anyway? they're for moments like that. i was on the floor for that moment. and it was one of the most memorable things i've seen live in a hall or anywhere. that was bill clinton at the summation of his career. that was everything he had learned about showmanship, about telling a story. and about how to make a case for the president. he made it so sitly, so clearly, so logically.

you wonder why barack obama couldn't do it. and that's probably because the kind of case he had to make, somebody other than the president had to make. if the president himself says, you know, we were in a terrible situation when i came in, it doesn't sound as compelling when somebody else said it. >> i had a moment like that up in new hampshire when clinton was running the first time. he had all the problems with that girlfriend way back when. that was all behind him. and then he went out in front of these field houses and high school gyms and he spoke on the last question he would answer. he said to me noble in our generation can do that. only he can do that. >> what also impressed me about that, i was covering that very same series of events was his will. bill clinton's will to succeed. >> anyway, another turning point that threatened to derail this campaign. and this is purely negative. it was a pretty good day for mitt romney.

the president's listless performance in that first presidential debate which he says caused me to have a stroke averwards. here's part of his closing argument, if you want to call it that, an argument. >> you know, four years ago i said that i'm not a perfect man and i wouldn't be a perfect president. but i also promised that i'd fight every single day on behalf of the american people and all of those struggling to get in the middle class. if you vote for me, i'm promise i'll fight just as hard in the second term. >> i think a lot of it had to do

with how he feels personally about mitt romney. the idea that he was just on the stage with him was beneath him. this guy was someplace else. yeah, yeah, it was his anniversary. politically, he was thinking why am i dealing with tier 2. and it showed. >> right before it, we saw a democrat facing a really tough situation along with a pretty popular governor of new jersey. here he is with the press conference with the new jersey governor, chris christie. >> we are not going to tolerate red tape. we are not going to tolerate bureaucracy. i've instituted a 15-minute rule, essentially, on my team. you return everybody's phone call within 15 minutes. if they need something, we figure out a way to say yes.

it just keeps getting worse and worsz. i think it was just two people of different parties. >> the republicans and the democrats, conservatives and liberals coming together. >> why do you think that bipartisan spirit seems to be stronger now? why is that there? >> i think that was there. and i think to chris christie's credit, he galvanized the moment through action. but you saw a cooperation. you saw his government and the federal government coming together. >> they were wearing the fleece. >> exactly. you had the fleece on, the sleeves rolled up. >> you guys are the best. i have to tell you, i love politics. i'm breaking the story here. >> there's certain things when people rise to the occasion and do the right thing.

anyway, thank you, michael. up next, from etch-a-sketch to legitimate rate to 47%. the yumpbuniversity has the lis the most notable political quotes of the year. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ man ] ring ring... progresso this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

we're back. 2012 is coming to a close. but, before it does, let's look back at a few of the most memorable quotes. quotations that were uttered this year. everything from the historic to the infamous to, of course, the absurd. for the seventh year, fred shapiro has released his list of the top ten quotes. joining me right now is jonathan alder and ken voger. gentleman, your starting gates, here they come. romney had been pushed to the far right on a host of issues. and the question many were asking was could he pivot back to the center in the general election. and then one of his top advisors said this. let's watch.

he hit a reset button and everything changes. it's almost like an etch-a-sketch where you can shake it up and start all over again. >> here's our secret plan for the general election. we're going to pretend we're moderates and he did. they didn't pivot to the center until that first debate many months later. so what that etch-a-sketch comment did, it almost cost them the election right there. it prevented them from scampering back to the ish shoe. it didn't allow romney the running room he needed. >> i also say i don't believe a word that i spoke since running for president. here's one for you, ken. if one crystallized the

overwhelm trouble, it was this. take a look at number 6. >> first of all, from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways of shutting that whole thing down. >> let's start with the first part. if it's a legitimate rape? what did that mean? >> what it meant was absolutely unjustifiable. and it was the reason, the potential for todd aiken to go off the reservation and prepare to hit him on. it shows why democrats wanted him to be the nominee to the point where they advertise democratic super pacts in his primary for the republican nomination to run against claire mccaskell to say todd aken is too conservative.

he is opposed to abortion. hey, this sounds like our kind of guy. >> you know, canadian mounted police like this say we always get our man. and claire mccasken got her man to run against. anyway, the president bounced back from a bad first debate. he was a memorable line from the third debate from the memorable quote of the year. you mentioned the navy, for example and that we had fewer ships than we did in 1916. well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets. the nature of our military changed. we have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. we have these ships that go underwater, called nuclear submarines.

>> the most memorable moment occurred in this second debate. >> i any it's interesting the president just said on the day after the i tack, he went in the rose garden and said this was an act of terror. is that what you're saying? >> please proceed, governor. >> there's so much to that phrase. please proceed. what was that? was it the good wife? what was that? it was a corn scene, i think. >> he just led him right into the track and that was very harmful. it basically took foreign policy off the table. it made it seem like, in the third debate, romney barely showed up because he had

basically seeded all of foreign policy to the president. that's what the polls were showing. it's something you very rarely see in a debate, chris, which is a clean kill. two or three other examples. this is a perfect one where romney was very well-prepared and taken by his staff to a place that he shouldn't have been, where he's trying to score points on an issue where he shouldn't have been trying to score. romney said obama did fot use that words. the moderator actually stepped in at the time and fact-checked him and said you're wrong. and that was just so devastating. >> yeah, well said. it was critical. he's right, john.

twitter sbantly went wild. it's the number two line of the year. let's take a listen. >> we took a concerted efrlt to go out and find women who had backgrounds who could find members of our cabinet. >> so what was the quote of the year? this probably won't shock you. in some ways, it defined what the election was all about. let's watch. >> agree, john? agree, ken? this is the line that put him away? >> not only was this

unbelievably devicive in a country that likes to think of itself as one country. but it was kritically important that it was caught on serp tishs video. now i'm seeing the real mitt romney. not the one in the packaging. television r it was like the true mitt romney in this setting,just so illustrative of what people's worst preconceptions of what mitt romney was. >> the worst thing that can happen to you in a criminal trial is just to hear the voice of your client on tape. there's something about caught on tape, ever since nixon, i don't know. you don't want to be caught on tape. merry christmas.

happy new year, both of you guys. when we return, let me finish with my thoughts on the year that was. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ [ female announcer ] he could be the one. soulmate. husband. loving father to your children. but first you've got to get him to say, "hello." new crest 3d white arctic fresh toothpaste. use it with these 3d white products, and whiten your teeth in just 2 days. what will a 3d white smile do for you? new crest 3d white toothpaste. life opens up when you do.

let me in tonight end the year with this. a reasonable judgment about american 2012 is that we are a more diverse people than some imagined. we are a country more tolerant of our diversity than i

imagined. was it a good year for america? my answer is yes. as a country, we backed the rights of women, increasingly backed the rights of gay people. not just in life and liberty, but the pursuit of happiness. we were very open to words in the declaration of independence. i never believed president barack obama had a second term in the bag. i thought he was on his way out of town. his vice president out-battled his rival. the president himself came back to show he was not a man to be taken down twice. most important, he got some breaks. the supreme court upheld health care. mitt romney showed himself a man at home but his fellow, rich, out on a limb when trying to be someone he isn't. a right wing simpleton. so we look forward to a new year, a second administration of a significantly progressive president.